Residents speak out on Gainsborough growth plans

West Lindsey District Council and Central Lincolnshire Joint Planning Committee hosted a drop in session and exhibition on Monday to discuss the huge growth coming to Gainsborough and the development of new neighbourhoods

Published:09:59Friday 08 February 2013

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AMBITIOUS plans to vastly grow Gainsborough as part of the wider development of Lincolnshire were put on display at West Lindsey District Council.

The exhibition at the Guildhall at Marshall’s Yard was held by the Central Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee.

Residents were invited to view and discuss the outline plans for Gainsborough - including the building of three ‘new neighbourhoods’ of 7,000 new homes, the improvement of infrastructure, more shops and businesses and 15 hectares of employment land to bring ‘jobs, higher wages and greater ecnomic resilience’ to the area.

“We’ve been getting a lot of useful feedback,” said acting head of developments and neighbourhood at WLDC Nick Ethelstone. “The Southern neighbourhood for Gainsborough has outline planning permission - which is where we’re expecting to see some of the growth of the next five years.”

“We need to see the delivery of services and infrastructure to these areas. The Southern neighbourhood is set for GP’s surgeries, primary schools, outdoor spaces and much more.”

The new neighbourhoods in the three urban extensions to the south, east and north of Gainsborough are planned with similar developments in Lincoln and Sleaford to meet around 40 per cent of the housing need in the county - but plenty of jobs are also promised in the plans.

Fellow planning member Rob Lawton added: “People just think that we’re talking about houses - but what they want to know about is jobs, and these plans should bring around 26,700 on 210 hectares of designated land across Lincolnshire.”

l The six weeks of public consultation run until Wednesday, 13th March. For more info visit www.central-lincs.org.uk